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Detailed Guide to Diplomacy
Approach Approach describes an AI civilization's diplomatic "stance" towards you or another player. Every civilization's Approach is updated every turn. There are seven approaches: '''NEUTRAL''', '''FRIENDLY''', '''AFRAID''', '''GUARDED''', '''DECEPTIVE''', '''HOSTILE''' and '''WAR'''. Each turn, AIs perform a calculation which adds weight to each of the seven approach scores, and at the end of the calculation, the approach with the highest score is picked. See the Approach Calculation section below for more details on this. ''Note: The WAR approach does not mean you are actually at war, it means that the AI values going to war more than other approaches, and it is preparing to go to war when the time is right (see "War Declarations" below).'' Changes in approach happen gradually to prevent rapid jumping between values. You can see what an AI's ''visible'' approach towards you is in the diplomacy screen (or with EUI, by mousing over their portrait in the score list). However, the visible approach is not always the true approach: * If the AI's true approach is DECEPTIVE, the visible approach will be FRIENDLY. * If the AI's true approach is WAR, the AI will pick a "War Face" based on its next highest Approach score. The visible approach will be FRIENDLY, NEUTRAL, GUARDED or HOSTILE. * If the AI has one of the special "approaches" listed below, their approach will not be visible. Mousing over the visible approach will show you the factors that affect the AI's Opinion of you (see the "Opinion" section below). Opinion is an important factor in determining the AI's approach, although there are many other factors as well. If the AI's visible approach is FRIENDLY (real or fake), they will hide certain bad opinion modifiers (see below) unless you have the Transparent Diplomacy option enabled. Effects of Approach Approach is the most important factor in global diplomacy, and affects relations between civilizations in a wide variety of ways. It can be considered a "relationship level" system. ''Note: If you have denounced them, they have denounced you, or they consider you an untrustworthy backstabber, the AI will never adopt the FRIENDLY approach (real or fake) towards you.'' '''NEUTRAL - '''Neutral civilizations are neither friendly nor hostile. Towards you, they have no strong feelings one way or the other. They will tend to ignore you unless you do something which catches their attention. Trade deals with them will tend to be balanced and fair. '''FRIENDLY - '''Friendly civilizations see you in a positive light. Their disposition will be kind, they are more likely to accept requests you make of them, and they are less likely to do anything to harm you. Trade deals with them will tend to be slightly in your favor and easier to achieve. '''AFRAID - '''Afraid civilizations are terrified of your great might, and their dialogue will reflect that they are intimidated. This approach is rarely seen, as it typically requires an overwhelming advantage in strength over them. They will accept requests much more readily, and trade deals with them will be in your favor. '''GUARDED - '''Guarded civilizations are suspicious of your intentions. Their disposition will be defensive, they are more likely to be unfriendly or hostile, and they may take actions harmful to you. Trade deals with them will tend to be tilted in their favor and more difficult to achieve. '''DECEPTIVE -''' Deceptive civilizations are pretending to be FRIENDLY, but it's only a show. Outwardly, they will be friendly, but they will secretly plot against you and take actions to harm you, such as bribing other civilizations to declare war on you. Trade deals with them are possible but more difficult, and Deceptive friends will never offer gifts or accept requests for help. If you are warned that a player is "plotting against you" or your spies catch another civilization "plotting against someone", it means their approach is DECEPTIVE. '''HOSTILE - '''Hostile civilizations hate you, and they want you to know it. Their disposition will be aggressive, and they will be insulting in their interactions with you. They are very likely to take actions to harm you, and very unlikely to agree to any requests or do anything to help you. Trade deals with them will be heavily tilted in their favor or outright impossible. '''WAR - '''Civilizations with the WAR approach have decided they want to go to war with you. If not already at war, they will pretend to be FRIENDLY, NEUTRAL, GUARDED or HOSTILE while they prepare for war; this is their "War Face". However, they will not declare war unless they have satisfied the conditions for war (see "War Declarations" below). In the meantime, they will display their false approach. They are very likely to plot against you and take actions to harm you, and trade deals with them will tend to be unfavorable or impossible. '''Special "Approaches"''' ''Note: These are messages you see instead of the AI's approach in the diplomacy screen, not actual approaches!'' '''WAR!''' - Indicates that you are currently at war. This is distinct from WAR (which is an actual approach). It is possible for the AI to be at war and yet have a different approach, like HOSTILE or even FRIENDLY. In this case, the other approach will be suppressed until the war has ended. If an AI is at war but its approach is ''not'' WAR, they are more likely to offer/accept a peace treaty. '''DENOUNCING!''' - Indicates that the AI has denounced you on the current turn. '''RECALLED TO LIFE''' - Indicates that this AI has been resurrected by you on the current turn (after another player killed them). '''Approach Biases''' Each AI civilization leader has a "bias" for each of the seven approaches. The bias ranges from '''1''' to '''10''' and is randomized by '''+/- 2''' each game, to add some variety to the leader's personality. For example, if a leader's FRIENDLY bias is '''6''', in every new game it will be set to a random value between '''4''' and '''8, '''inclusive. The randomized approach bias is used many times in the approach calculation below. The higher a leader's bias for an approach, the more likely it is to adopt that particular approach. A list of all leaders' approach biases is provided here for reference. Approach Calculation Each turn, the AI runs this calculation. All seven approaches start with a weight of 0. As the AI takes various factors into consideration, weight is added to or removed from one or more of the approaches. At the end of the process, the approach with the highest score is picked. Usually, the randomized approach bias is added/removed whenever a condition makes it more or less favorable to have that approach, although there are exceptions to this. If the approach with the highest score is the WAR approach, the AI will also pick a "War Face" at this stage (the visible approach that will be shown to the player until the AI goes to war or changes its mind). '''Important: '''Approach scores change ''gradually'' from turn to turn! Without further ado, here is the approach calculation, written in plain text for easy understanding. ''Note: We/our/my/etc. refers to the AI that is calculating its approach, and this player/them/their/etc. refers to the player (this can be a human or an AI) that the AI is evaluating.'' Opinion Opinion describes the AI's diplomatic view on the basic role another major civilization has within their game. It is a major factor in calculating Approach. Every civilization's Opinion towards other players is updated every turn. To calculate Opinion, the AI checks a number of conditions ("opinion modifiers") which add or subtract from that civilization's opinion score/weight. Opinion can then determined by consulting the table below. Unlike Approach, Opinion does not change gradually, and large changes can happen within a single turn. Some conditions which add/subtract from the Opinion score will also affect Approach directly, but not all of them. '''Important Note: In the game code, good opinion modifiers ''subtract'' from the score (negative is good) and bad opinion modifiers ''add'' to the score (positive is bad). ''' '''When using Transparent Diplomacy, good modifiers are shown ingame as positive (+) and bad modifiers are shown ingame as negative (-) to avoid confusing the player.''' '''Note:''' For teammates, this calculation is ignored entirely. An AI's Opinion of its teammates is always Ally, regardless of what modifiers are present. Effects of Opinion If an AI has a positive opinion of another player, trade deals with them will be more favorable, they will be more willing to accept requests from that player, and they will generally be kinder. They will also be more likely to adopt the FRIENDLY approach. If an AI has a negative opinion of another player, trade deals with them will be less favorable, they will be less willing to accept requests from that player, and they will generally be meaner. They will also be more likely to adopt the WAR, HOSTILE, DECEPTIVE, GUARDED and AFRAID approaches. If the AI has a neutral opinion of another player, they will be more likely to adopt the NEUTRAL approach, and they will generally be neither helpful nor harmful to the other player. Opinion Modifiers The modifiers which are affecting another civilization's Opinion of you can be seen by mousing over their current (visible) Approach. However, if their visible approach is FRIENDLYThis includes if the AI has the '''RECALLED TO LIFE''' "special" approach because you just resurrected them; if their visible approach underneath that is FRIENDLY, the modifiers will be hidden. This is rarely important, however, because resurrecting a player clears most negative modifiers. (whether it's real or fake), some bad modifiers will be hidden, such as territorial disputes and warmongering. Even if a modifier is hidden, it still counts towards your score. With the Transparent Diplomacy option enabled in advanced game settings, you will always be able to see all opinion modifiers, even if they would normally be hidden. Their number value for the Opinion score will also be shown, and you can use this information to calculate that player's Opinion based on the table above ('''note:''' as said above, you must use the opposite +/- sign). Keeping Other Civilizations Happy It is much easier to make another civilization angry with you than it is to please them, and some conflict is inevitable, especially when it comes to border disputes. However, here are a few ways to keep another AI player happy with you: * Work to earn positive modifiers to counteract any negatives and make them happier. Offering them trade deals in their favor, befriending their friends and denouncing their enemies are some examples of this. * Avoid doing things that will anger the AI, such as settling near them, denouncing them, or befriending their enemies. * Never choose the "You'll pay for this in time." dialogue option when the AI sends you messages; this will give you an opinion penalty for insulting them, even if they don't declare war on you.Responding with "You'll pay for this in time." to a declaration of war on you will not result in any penalties. * When an AI asks that you promise not to do something, either keep the promises that you make, or refuse to make them. The opinion penalty for breaking a promise is always worse than the penalty for refusing to agree to the AI's request. * Many diplomatic penalties (such as for ignored requests) will expire on their own over time. Denouncements will also expire, although they can be renewed once they expire (unless the players are at war). * Resurrecting an AI civilization that has been killed by another player will eliminate almost all previous bad modifiers. They will also gain a very large bonus to their Opinion of you. * Most previous negatives will also be eliminated if you defeat another civilization in war and they become your vassal through capitulation (this ''does not work'' for voluntary vassals). However, neither resurrection nor capitulation prevent you from obtaining more diplomatic penalties in the future, if the AI doesn't like your actions. Remember that diplomacy in Vox Populi is a game of global politics, and while you can usually make some civilizations happy, trying to befriend everyone will not usually succeed. If possible, it is advisable to try to form a coalition or "bloc" of friends with the same players. Denouncing players with a poor global reputation is also helpful in getting other players to like you. Good Opinion Modifiers - Negative is Good Good modifiers with a value of -10 opinion or less will be displayed in a dark green color. Good opinion modifiers with a value of -11 opinion or more will be displayed in a bright green color. Good modifiers are shown in descending order by value, from highest to lowest. If two modifiers have the same value, they are shown in alphabetical order. Bad Opinion Modifiers - Positive is Bad Bad modifiers with a value of 10 opinion or less will be displayed in a dark red color. Bad opinion modifiers with a value of 11 opinion or more will be displayed in a bright red color. Bad modifiers are shown in descending order by value, from lowest to highest. If two modifiers have the same value, they are shown in alphabetical order. Modifiers in ''italics'' will be hidden if the civilization's visible approach towards you is FRIENDLY (unless you have the Transparent Diplomacy option enabled). Modifiers in '''bold''' will not be removed by an AI player's resurrection or capitulation. Neutral Opinion Modifiers - No Effect These modifiers are displayed to give information to the player, but do not affect your Opinion score. Neutral modifiers are displayed in white text. War Declarations '''Normal War Declarations''' For the AI civilization to declare war on a major civilization through the normal process, the following conditions must be met: * The AI must be able to declare war; * The AI must be in position to declare war, i.e. their troops are ready to attack; * The AI must have the WAR approach towards its target (some exceptionsExceptions: 1) AIs with the HOSTILE approach can declare war if they're aiming for a Domination Victory. 2) AIs that are close to winning a Domination Victory can declare war on non-friends if their approach is HOSTILE or DECEPTIVE. 3) If the target player is a non-friend close to winning the game, the AI can declare war if their approach is HOSTILE or DECEPTIVE.); * The AI must not be already at war with any other major civilizationDoes not apply if all of the AI's wars are going well for them, the target player is nearby, and it believes the target player would be easy to conquer (must meet all three conditions to allow another war declaration).. If all of these conditions are met, the AI will declare war on its turn. '''Other War Declarations''' While the AI will not declare war on other players normally unless all of the above conditions are met, it can also declare war under the following circumstances: * As part of a cooperative war agreement ("coop war") with another civilization. When this happens, both civilizations will declare war at once. Only civilizations that are friends with each other can start cooperative wars. * If it was bribed by another player to declare war (Third Party - Declare War under the Trade screen). * If the AI makes a demand of another player and it is refused, the AI might declare war. * If one of the AI's vassals demands independence and the master refuses, they will declare war on the vassal. * If a human player picks the insulting response ("You'll pay for this in time.") when the AI makes certain statements, the AI might declare war. For these other forms of war declarations, the AI is intelligent enough to factor in a player's Defensive Pacts, masters/vassals and teammates, and will try to avoid declaring war on friends or powerful neighbors. Notes